


Meeting the Changs

by xslytherclawx



Series: Chanukah 5780 [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Hanukkah, Harry Potter Rare Pair Bingo: Round 1, Jewish Holiday, Meeting the Parents, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:23:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21912067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xslytherclawx/pseuds/xslytherclawx
Summary: Neither Padma nor Cho celebrate Christmas, and when Padma invited Cho to celebrate Diwali with her, she'd impressed Padma's whole family.Now Padma was going to meet Cho's family for Chanukah. It was all a bit nerve-wracking.
Relationships: Cho Chang/Padma Patil
Series: Chanukah 5780 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1562047
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14
Collections: All Your Faves Are Jewish, Harry Potter Rare Pair Bingo: Round One!, xslytherclawx & thestias's harry potter multiverse, xslytherclawx's Prompt Collection, xslytherclawx's jewish fic, xslytherclawx’s events collection





	Meeting the Changs

**Author's Note:**

> written for one of my prompts for [harry potter rare pair bingo](http://hprarepairbingo.tumblr.com/) \- S015: Padma/Cho
> 
> * * *
> 
> bad title is bad

Padma didn’t celebrate Christmas. She never had. In her family, they’d never seen the point. They weren’t Christian; they were Hindu. Why should they celebrate a Christian holiday?

Naturally, this made December a pretty alienating time. She’d dated a few people who celebrated Christmas, and that had been fine. She certainly didn’t begrudge anyone for celebrating the holiday. Most people in the U.K. did celebrate it.

Since she’d started dating Cho, though, this hadn’t been an issue. Cho was Jewish, so while she wasn’t the good Hindu boy Padma’s parents had always wanted her to find, it was hardly as if she expected Padma to celebrate Christmas.

Cho had been happy to come along with Padma for Diwali, and she’d even impressed Parvati (and Parvati had high standards for the people Padma dated).

So, of course, when Cho asked Padma to meet her family over Chanukah, Padma agreed. It wasn’t like she’d have ever said no. Besides, she wasn’t unfamiliar with Chanukah. She was friends with Anthony Goldstein, who even had an uncle who was a rabbi. 

They’d bonded a bit over belonging to minority religions at Hogwarts (where, it seemed, technical atheism didn’t do much to mitigate culturally Christian homogeny), so he was, naturally, the first person she contacted.

“I mean,” Anthony said, “Chanukah’s not as big of a deal to us as Christmas is to Christians.”

“But I’ve not met her family before,” Padma said.

“Then in that case… I dunno how observant Cho’s family is. One thing you might want to watch out for is – maybe be careful before going to shake her brother’s hand. Or any man there. Some people are what’s called shomer negiah, and that prohibits skin-to-skin contact between men and women.”

“Oh,” Padma said.

“I mean, you can. Probably. Just. I’d ask first, to be safe. And holding Cho’s hand or kissing her wouldn’t be an issue – you’re both women so there’s no prohibition there.”

“Is anyone in your family – what was it? Shomer negiah, then?”

Anthony shook his head. “No, but some of my grandmother’s family friends are. It’s mostly Orthodox people, but it’s good to ask just to be safe.”

* * *

“There’s no need to be nervous,” Cho said with a smile. Merlin, she was so beautiful. How was she so beautiful? She was wearing a fuzzy white sweater under a blue satin dress, and her hair was tied up in a bun.

“I’m meeting your  _ family,” _ Padma said. “That’s not nothing.”

“It’s only my mother, my brothers, and their children. It’s not  _ everyone.” _

“So you weren’t nervous when you met my family for Diwali?” Padma asked.

“Oh, of course I was,” Cho said. She leaned into kiss her. “I’m not saying I don’t understand. You look lovely, and my family isn’t the sort to interrogate you.”

Padma really hoped she was right about that, but delaying the issue helped no one. “But whatever happens, this doesn’t affect us, right?”

“Right,” Cho agreed. “I love my family, but I don’t need their approval.”

Padma managed a smile. “All right. Then I suppose we shouldn’t keep them waiting any longer.”

She offered Cho her hand and let Cho apparate them to her mother’s house. Immediately, she was struck by how  _ busy _ everything was. Children were running around, there was music coming from somewhere (though not music Padma recognised), and the smell of fried food was almost overwhelming.

One of the children seemed to notice them and stopped in her tracks. “Auntie Cho!”

“I hope you’re not chasing your brother, Daisy,” Cho said with a stern look.

The girl – Daisy – tried her best to look innocent. “I’m not.” Then she peered over at Padma. “Aunt Cho, is this your  _ girlfriend?” _

“Yes,” Cho said. “This is Padma.”

Daisy looked very hard at Padma, who felt as if this was some sort of test. Then, after a solid thirty seconds of silence, Daisy seemed to brighten and said, “I like your dress, Miss Padma.”

“Oh. Thank you, Daisy. It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Daisy said. To Cho, she said, “Dad’s in the kitchen with Gran.”

“Thank you,” Cho said. “Can I trust you to be nice to your brother?”

Daisy heaved a sigh. “Fine.”

“There’s a good girl,” Cho said. She took Padma by the hand and lead her down a corridor. “My niece. Oldest brother’s daughter.”

“That’s Aaron, right?”

“Right,” Cho agreed. “It’s Aaron, then Ben, then me.”

“And then Daisy?” Padma asked, catching on to the pattern.

“No one ever said my family was very creative,” Cho said. “Though why they thought Cho was better than Chava for a secular name, I’ve never known. No one will give me a straight answer.”

“Family can be like that,” Padma said.

Cho hummed in agreement and led her into what must have been the kitchen. A man who looked rather like Cho was helping a dark-haired older woman fry potato pancakes. “Daisy’s chasing Elijah around the house,” she said in lieu of greeting.

“Shit,” the man said. That must have been Aaron, then. He turned, presumably to try to talk sense into his children, and stopped when he saw Padma. “You must be Padma! I’m Aaron; it’s a pleasure to meet you!”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, too,” Padma said. “Cho’s told me so much about you.”

“Don’t believe a word she says,” Aaron said. “She’s biased.”

Padma laughed. “Don’t worry; I have a sister, too.”

“So you understand,” Aaron said with a wink. He turned to his mother. “I’m going to check on the kids. I shouldn’t be long.” 

* * *

Padma was instructed to not help at all; she was, after all, a guest. Mrs. Chang asked Padma all about her family and friends and holiday traditions (and, if Padma wasn’t mistaken, she seemed relieved when Padma said she didn’t celebrate Christmas, either).

Cho helped her brother make dinner, and then, when it was ready, everyone went into the dining room.

The sun had already set, so Mrs. Chang said that everyone should light candles before eating. Padma was content to sit back and watch the Changs sing their blessings and light five candles, one for each night.

Cho’s mother gave each of her grandchildren a little chocolate galleon wrapped in gold foil, and told them sternly that it was for after dinner.

Then they sat down for dinner. Padma had known that Cho could cook, but dinner was truly delicious. Some of the food was things she’d never had before, but she made sure to try a little bit of everything. Dessert was stuffed jelly doughnuts, which Cho assured her was tradition, and while Padma wasn’t used to such a thing as dessert, she wasn’t about to complain.

Cho’s mother sent food home with them, and while Padma didn’t know how they could possibly eat that much, Cho assured her it was her mother’s stamp of approval.

Padma saw Cho back to her apartment, where they split up the leftovers and Cho kissed her. “I think that went well.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to make this much longer but I simply ran out of time! Fleshing this out a bit more is definitely in the cards, but I wanted to make sure it was done in time!
> 
> * * *
> 
> Come visit me on [tumblr](http://xslytherclawx.tumblr.com)!  
> Please feel free to join my [Harry Potter discord server](https://discord.gg/yb6bS3c)!


End file.
